Normal isn’t normal

The more I experience, the more I realise that “normal” really isn’t normal at all.

I come from a united family. There’s been no upheaval, no abuse, no religious indoctrination, nothing of the kind. Just encouragement to make the best of myself and be considerate of others. My parents are decent, law-abiding, very kind, and together. There’s been no divorce, no battling for child custody, no lawsuits, not step-brothers, step-fathers or anything else. There’s been no drug abuse or alcohol abuse, but neither has there been complete abstinance. My parents have supported me at all times, and advised but never dictated.

To me, this is the meaning of “normal”: to be well balanced, and without any problems.

But it isn’t normal at all. It’s actually very unusual, and very, very fortunate. So much so, it can tend to alientate others, who can’t identify with this kind of happy upbringing and perhaps feel envious of it and even threatened (unnecessarily) by it. Comedians such as Ben Elton have written sketches about this issue, and people have even written books about it!

All I can say is, don’t be threatened, and let’s hope normal becomes really statistically normal in the future.